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Cougars target Oldham win as they look to continue climb

KEIGHLEY Cougars head coach Craig Lingard hopes his side can make a further assault on the Betfred League One top four as they target their third successive victory.

Cougars travel to 10th-placed Oldham Roughyeds on Sunday full of confidence after romping to a 80-10 home win over second-from-bottom Hemel Stags last time out.

Rampant Cougars stormed to victory with 14 tries from 10 different players, including braces from Lewis Fairhurst, Ritchie Hawkyard, Adam Ryder and Josh Tonks. Welsh international Ben Morris, on loan from St Helens, also scored a try on his Cougars debut.

The victory put Cougars up to fifth place, with three other teams; Workington, Whitehaven and Hunslet, who are all on six points.

Lingard has identified Sunday's date at the Vestacare Stadium as a chance for his side to maintain their early season momentum, following three wins from their opening five games.

Oldham, meanwhile, have had a poor start to the campaign, losing three of their first five matches, including a 24-16 defeat to Hunslet last Sunday.

Lingard said: "We have three tough games coming up now; Oldham and Newcastle away and Whitehaven at home. We have targeted Whitehaven as a win especially.

"Oldham came down from the Championship last season, so it is a really tough ask for us to go there and win.

"Oldham will be smarting from their defeat last week. It might mean they are behind where they expected to be at this stage of the season.

"So it will mean it is a toss of a coin which Oldham side we get on Sunday.

"They know they have to win, but all we can do is concentrate on ourselves.

"We have had a tough start to the season with our fixtures, but we have done well. The squad is full of confidence.

"The Hemel game was a really good performance. We were pretty much faultless in the first half. It is great to score 80 points in a game, we were 46-0 up at half time."

Lingard added he is facing sleepless nights in the build-up Sunday's squad, with his squad boasting a clean bill of health.

He said: "It is great to have everyone back and in full training. There is real competition for places now.

"Now everybody is ready to play and get a place in the squad. I know there will be 12 or 13 players knocking on my door saying 'why haven't I been picked?'"

Following his side's great start, Lingard has continued to target a top-five place at the end of the season.

He said: "We wanted to beat our seventh-placed finish from last season.

"It's going to massively difficult with the teams in this division.

"We will be right in the mix if we can take two wins out of the next three games."

Meanwhile, Bradford referee Liam Staveley will officiate Sunday's clash between Cougars and Oldham. He sent off four players the last time he officiated a Bulls match, when Bradford pair Ethan Ryan and Elliot Minchella, and Keighley Cougars duo Samir Tahraoui and Ryan Wright were dismissed in the Joe Phillips Memorial Trophy in February.

Cougars Squadbuilder will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, June 13, from 7pm.

It will take place at Cougar Park, as the group looks for new members and to raise funds for the Cougars first team.

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